20 December 2011

5 Great Movies About Money

Money is a very important part of our life. No wonder movies and shows about making money capture the attention of a great number of viewers; the allure of success, the motivation factor. Hence we notice most of the filmmakers have been focusing on “money” as a central theme in many movies. Over the years there have been lots of movies that dealt with all aspects of finance. Some deal with money as a peripheral issue, there are some great movies that deal with the mechanics of making money. Movies about finance are set in much more insular worlds unlike the movie that are based on political issues.

Here is a list of movies in which money is a major feature and you definitely can learn a lot from these movies.

Boiler Room (2000)

An incredibly fun film with many powerful performances. Following the same parallels as Wall Street, even including scenes dedicated to the movie, Boiler Room is a very relaxing but intense movie. This movie revolves around a college dropout Seth Davis attempts to get a legitimate job and please his father after dropping out of college and running an illegal casino. What he doesn’t realize is that the stock brokerage where he finds work is far from legal and may just ruin his life. As a viewer even if you know very little about stocks and bonds and insider trading, there is still plenty in here to keep you intrigued.

Wall Street (1987)

This Oliver Stone classic comes with the tag line, "greed is good" and that’s just what values the film reflects. It focuses about the New York stock market, major trades and the dangers of insider trading. Undoubtedly, Wall Street is the quintessential movie about making money. This movie is a depiction of the financial world in the 80s that shows that justice always thrives. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. If you want to know how dangerous greed can get you, then this is the movie you must watch.

Brewster’s Millions (1985)

The central theme of this movie is, it teaches us how hard it can be to spend money wisely, and on the other hand, how easy it is to waste it. This movie features Pryor as a minor league baseball player who is given an offer he can’t refuse he has to spend $30 million in 30 days and have nothing to show for it, and he gets $300 million. Without having any assets at the end proves to be incredibly difficult, and it makes for great viewing. To even complicate the scene, he cannot tell anyone about this deal.

Trading Places (1983)

The plot revolves around snobby commodity broker whose life gets switched with that of criminal as part of a bet. This movie also takes into consideration the view of the society’s preoccupation with money and status. While the film takes a humorous look at how each is ill-equipped to live the life of the other, it also offers real lessons on the value of life over that of money.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

The whole movie centers on a Chicago real-estate office going through tough times. Each salesman is under immense pressure to close sales or lose their jobs, and we see how far people will go in search of money. When the realtors are set against each other to make the most sales or lose their job, chaos ensues. Financial pressure can make people crumble is what is reflected in this movie.